Other pictures show crowds of shoppers buying food for their Christmas dinner in the market and the decorated windows of the Newcastle’s main shops, including Bainbridge’s and Callers.

Callers department store was on Northumberland Street but was destroyed by a fire just before Christmas in 1969 and never reopened.

The photos were collected by a history group based in Bedlington to remember what Christmas in the North East was like decades ago.

John Dawson, secretary of the Six Townships Community History Group, said: “They are very traditional and it just shows you the past and how things have changed. They are lovely to look at and bring back a lot of memories.

“The photos are very nostalgic. Callers had a big fire just before Christmas and the whole place burned down.

“When you look at the snow and see the soldiers clearing it, it’s quite a shame because we don’t see snow like that now. We used to have some hard winters in those days.

“The shops were all turned out with decorations – it was a great feeling. Even the tram buses used to be decorated. It’s nice for us to look back at those days and remember the way it was.

“Fenwick’s window has been a family tradition for generation after generation. It’s a pleasure to look back at the pictures and see how it is today.”

Fenwick’s festive window has been a popular tradition for the North East since 1971 and this year holds its 38th display.

People from across the region and further afield come in their thousands to see the spectacle in the run-up to Christmas.

The displays are made by a company in Germany which specialises in building larger-than-life displays for theme parks.

Throughout the construction process, a Fenwick team visits to keep an eye on how the display is doing.

Mr Dawson, of Newbiggin-by-the-Sea, in Northumberland, added: “It was such a thrill when my parents used to take me to Newcastle to see the decorations when I was a lad.

“If you wanted to see any decorations you had to go through to Newcastle back then. They really were fantastic days gone by.”

Six Townships is a non-profit-making organisation based which undertakes research into local history.